Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Purchases New Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 77,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $7,500,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,118,201,000 after buying an additional 449,776 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,728,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,096,587,000 after acquiring an additional 266,963 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,172,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,291 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,185,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $596,876,000 after acquiring an additional 177,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $629,431,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $112.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Crown Castle from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.13.

Crown Castle Stock Down 3.4%

Crown Castle stock opened at $84.94 on Thursday. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.01 and a twelve month high of $115.76. The company has a market capitalization of $37.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.10, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $87.22 and its 200 day moving average is $90.61.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 420.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $262,470.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company’s assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.